The project "SHEROES" is based on a long-standing collaboration of PAPATYA with Orient-Express, Planning Familiale and KAMER that has existed since the DAPHNE-project of the Turkish-German Women's Organisation in 1999. Together with other European NGOs they form a network to protect young female migrants from domestic violence.

Girls and young women with a migration background are empowered to resist violence perpetrated in the name of honour. They share their experiences with other victims and assist in their decision finding process. The partner organisations form supportive networks.

The project aims at preventing violence and ensuring the quality of the measures in the projects involved.The recommendations for actions that ensue are not standardised processes butmultilevel strategies that need to reflect local conditions and issues.

Several project work processes will run in parrallel:

1.Girls groups

Working with affected girls and young women to strengthen their self confidence. A range of thematically diverse modules that are suitable for groups of 4-8 girls trigger debate andfeed intense feedback processes with the girls; topics are: dealing with family honour, violence, ideas for the future, virginity, partnership and more.

2.Creating and extending networks (indirect beneficiaries)

The project partners aim at improving protection forgirls and young women who are affected by violence within the family and that are threatened by forced marriages, abductions oreven murder in the name of family honour. Creation of a multi-disciplinary network of NGOs, police and local institutions (eg, in the case of kidnappings, in collaboration with local projects such as KAMER in Turkey, the police, lawyers and government institutions.)Girls who have been taken out the country by their families against their will are in extreme danger - even of being murdered.

3.Best practice

PAPATYA 's positive experiences reaching young women of migrant background using online tools to assist and counsel indvidually, will be shared with the partners and evaluated as regards transferability and possibilities of implementation.

Further instances of best practices will be identified in the working meetings; this will feed into the workof the Rumanian and Bulgarian partners with their Roma communities in the context of forced marriages. Experience with strategies to fight abductions will also be shared amongpartnering countries.

The project starts on 1.4.2011 and has duration of 2 years, as part of the DAPHNE III Program of the European Union.